| What
you're going to do Every
time you practice or play a game, dirt buildups around the basepaths,
around the bases, or at the outfield grass line.
Maybe you haven't been able to prevent the lip by either raking
or hosing. So, now you have a lip that is more like a speed bump.
Here's a couple ways to fix lip buildup and get rid of it amazingly fast.
How you do
this
Base paths
and the outfield grass line of the skin: often these have two
problems. The grass has grown past its proper line and dirt has raised
it up quite a bit.
Here's what you do
for starters. This is often all that is needed to fix lip buildup when
it is a wide, gently rolling bump area.
- Mark
your sprinklers. (there really is a 'best' way to do this)
- Mark the proper
cutout line. See
ball field diagrams if needed.
- Use
a sod cutter a and cut out the grass and raised area.
- Then spike drag
the dirt and drag
to level your infield dirt.
Infield grass
line: often there are two problems. There is a significant lip
right at the edge as well as a higher area about a foot or two into the
grass.
Here's what to do to fix this or to continue fixing problems above if
the sod cutter alone didn't fix the lip buildup.
- Mark your sprinklers.
- Core
aerate the high area. Aerate it about 20 times.
- Rake the cores
out onto the grass area. Let them become part of the field.
- Now you can continue
fixing one of two ways.
- The slow way is
to water everyday for 2 to 3 weeks and the sod with all the core plugs
missing will start to lower slowly. Golf courses lower the high spots
hit by mowers with this technique.
- I never had patience
for this. I want it fixed now.
- After all the aerating
and raking off the core plugs, run a shovel along the grass edge making
a small ditch about 3 inches deep.
- Mark your sprinklers.
- Then run a 3 ton
steam roller along the edge. Don't run over the sprinklers. After rolling
twice you'll have instant flat ground at the dirt and turf line!
- Run a field rake
along the dirt edge to rough it up a bit. All done. No more lip.
Check
here for more info about using a roller to fix lip buildup.
- People who don't
see what you just did will be amazed at how much better it is and wonder
how you did it.
edged and rolled to eliminate the 'lip'
Tips & Hints
- Prevent lip build
up. That's better than having to fix lip buildup later.
- Once a week sweep
or use a plastic rake to get the soil out of the grass.
- Use a hose to wash
the soil or crushed brick or fines out of the grass and back onto the
infield skin if the lips become higher and wider. This shouldn't be
done more often than once a week because it weakens the grass roots.
More often and you'll need to put out a fertilizer
such as 6-20-20 for the roots. This is one of the easiest
ways to try to fix lip buildup if it hasn't gotten too bad.
- The steam roller
technique described above works well on softball fields as well as baseball
fields. Any playing surface where grass meets dirt and a lip builds
up.
Mistakes to avoid
Use
a sod cutter too deep when edging and you'll end up with a dip and lip
that needs to be filled in with baseball dirt. You
want to fix lip buildup, not make it worse.
|
dirt getting into the
grass area can
build a lip
grass edge with a 3 foot
wide hump and lip...
...fixed instantly by cutting to spec with a sod cutter
hump aerated a
dozen times
cores removed and rolled twice with a
3 ton steam roller
after you eliminate the
lip, you can also roll
the turf to flatten out
bumps and lumps
a nice result with weekly raking and rolling |
